Dalai Lama likely to be honored by Paris mayor

By JENNY BARCHFIELD, The Associated Press
| 6:02 a.m.May 26, 2009

FILE - In this March 21, 2008 file photo, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, left, and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talk to the media in Dharamsala, India, Friday, March 21, 2008. Pelosi is expected to come to Beijing Tuesday, May 26, 2009. China's leadership will play host next week to one of its fiercest human rights critics _ speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Pelosi_ in a visit that symbolizes the complex and deepening relations between the two countries. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan, File)
— AP

FILE - In this March 21, 2008 file photo, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, left, and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talk to the media in Dharamsala, India, Friday, March 21, 2008. Pelosi is expected to come to Beijing Tuesday, May 26, 2009. China's leadership will play host next week to one of its fiercest human rights critics _ speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Pelosi_ in a visit that symbolizes the complex and deepening relations between the two countries. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan, File)
/ AP

PARIS 
The Dalai Lama is likely to be honored by the mayor of Paris during a June visit, a Tibetan representative said Tuesday – a meeting that could once again strain relations between France and China.

If it takes place, the Paris meeting could unravel months of diplomacy by French officials who have worked to repair relations with China, strained over France's perceived support of the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Beijing considers the Dalai Lama an agent of Tibet's independence from China and objects to all meetings between the Dalai Lama and foreign leaders.

China put relations in a deep freeze for months following a meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the Dalai Lama in Poland in December. It suspended high-level contacts and shut France out of lucrative European buying trips by Chinese delegations.

Ties were only righted after France last month pledged to reject Tibetan independence in "any form."

Wangpo Bashi, of the Office of Tibet in Paris, said Tuesday he believes Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe will host a small ceremony to honor the Dalai Lama, who was made an honorary citizen of Paris last year. Speaking in a phone interview, Bashi declined to provide any further details, but French news reports said the event would take place June 6.

Earlier this month, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman made a strongly worded warning against formally bestowing honorary citizenship on the Dalai Lama. The Paris city government voted last year to approve the award, but the ceremony would bestow the honor in person.

"If the Paris city government does make this award it will definitely meet once again with the Chinese people's firm opposition," spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters. "We urge the Paris side to stop doing things that interfere into China's internal affairs and make no further errors on Tibet-related issues."

Officials at the Elysee presidential palace declined to comment on the possible meeting, while the mayor's spokesman, Laurent Fary, said only that "no date has yet been set."

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Frederic Desagneaux played down the possible meeting, calling it "an initiative that was taken by the City of Paris in total independence" and adding that it "should not have an impact on relations" between France and China.

Tibetan representatives say the Dalai Lama will visit the French capital from June 6-8 and give a public conference on ethics at a Paris stadium.